The Nakanai Mountain Ranges of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea

This E-Book on the Nakanai Mountains of East New Britain is in four parts. The first section provides an overview of the karst and cave attributes which led to the listing of Nakanai on the Tentative World Heritage List in a Serial Site known as The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea. The next section provides a brief history of the region involving European encounters. This is followed with a brief overview of the archaeology of East New Britain. The fourth section highlights some of the unique flora and fauna of the Nakanai. The final section includes the UNESCO Justification for Significance on the Tentative World Heritage List

The Nakanai Mountain Ranges of East New Britain Papua New Guinea. E: Booklet Version 2

NOTES ON THE E-BOOKLET VERSION TWO Between 2016- 2019, a multidisciplinary team of researchers1 from Australia and Papua New Guinea worked in collaboration with local communities to document the cultural values of the Nakanai Mountains and their inextricable link to the spectacular natural landscape. This research aims to contribute to a standalone nomination to the UNESCCO Tentative World Heritage List of the Nakanai Karst Area (NKA) and elevate its recognition as a cultural landscape of outstanding significance. The research team included both anthropologists and archaeologists. Further anthropological and archaeological research is likely to yield further evidence of the richly diverse cultural values of the area. Between July 2018 - December 2019, researchers from James Cook University (JCU) in collaboration with postgraduate researchers from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) were commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme2 in conjunction with the Conservation, Environment Protection Authority to generate awareness of protected area planning processes and to facilitate the gazettal of four Community Protected Areas around Jacquinot Bay and Central Inland Pomio. These protected area processes are ongoing